good sunday. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. 51 days until election day now. here's what's happening at this hour. developing story we are watching very closely. another insider attack in afghanistan. four americans were killed today when an afghan police officer opened fire on a group of nato soldiers. this is the third so-called green on blue attack in as many days leaving eight troops dead in all. so far this year 51 coalition service members died at the hand of afghan soldiers, policemen or

insurgents wearing their uniforms. more on this. a live report from kabul a little bit later on. on "meet the press", israeli prime minister benjamin tphept an ya hue downplaying the idea that he is trying to help mitt romney in his bid for the white house. >> i'm not going to be drawn into the american election. what's guiding my statements is not the american political calendar but the iranian nuclear calendar. it's really not a partisan political issue. >> but this afternoon democratic national committee chairman said he believes there are problems in the relationship between president obama and prime minister netanyahu. >> i think my guess is that the personal relationship between netanyahu and obama is not all that good. most of that has to do with president obama. if you look back at our relationship with israel, which

is historically and incredibly strong and remains strong. this is really a personality. >> turning to the campaign trail,ing mitt romney had an event scheduled for colorado later today. but it was canceled after an unrelated incident at pueblo, colorado's airport. news today that the money game hit a new high. ad spending plus the super pacs has surpassed some $600 million. half of that eye-popping total has gone to run ads in ohio, virginia, and florida alone. we'll have more on these stories the the next two hours right here. more now, though, on the last minute cancellation by the romney campaign in colorado. peter alexander joining us now by telephone from pueblo, colorado. the governor was supposed to be speaking in about three hours. >> craig, we are here in denver. we're intending to join the

campaign but they gave us a heads-up that the event was canceled. it happened at the result of an experimental plane that crashed earlier this morning where one person was killed and ended up closing two runways. as long as it's under investigation the campaign didn't want to interfere with the emergency response efforts that take place there. clearly that's going to have an impact when a candidate comes into town with all the security he would draw. romney heads off to the state of california, which won't be a competitive state but will speak to a hispanic group. right now he's losing among the latinos and hispanics 2-1. he will follow through the course of this week hitting several battleground states. he needs to focus on the states he's competing closely with president barack obama to win. the president won four years ago. he will head to los angeles, miami, and las vegas this week.

and florida and nevada. >> peter alexander traveling with the romney campaign in colorado. pete, thanks so much. appreciate that, sir. to help make sense of our political headlines, we have mark murray here in the studio with us. a rare treat. live and in person. let's start with colorado there. you wrote i think it was back in august that this is the fourth most likely state to flip from blue to red. what's happening in colorado here as of late. >> right now it's pretty even steven contestment a lot of internal pollings you get a sense from the owe bottom ma and romney campaigns this is competitive. it wasn't that case in 2008 after president obama had his political convention in denver. that was seen as an easy win. you almost look at colorado as 50/50. there is pressure for mitt romney to be able to win this thing.

president obama has the advantage in florida, ohio, virginia. mitt romney can't concede colorado to president obama. and president obama being able to win colorado puts less pressure on him to win the big three contests. >> let's turn to that number that i just threw out there, $600 million. that's the amount of money that has been spent so far by the campaigns and the groups supporting them on ads. there's the graphic right there. we know at this point that mitt romney outspent president obama nationwide on ads. these three states the president outspent governor romney. what does that tell us about the president's strategy? >> they're trying to be competitive. when you campaign the combines and the super pacs, 051 c4 outside groups. for a very long time they have been very worried about the influx of all these outside groups. democrats are pretty much out numbered when you add those outside super pacs.

them being able to raise $100 million as we saw in the month of august, they're able to do that in september, october. that allows them to blunt that. they want to be competitive. they know they're going to get out spent. when you look at all the campaign advertising entities. >> when you spend that much money on ads in certain states the folks that live there are totally unundated. at what point do they become desensitized. >> the ones that are breaking through are very smart. we saw the 60-second ad just yesterday saying are people better off. it's really strike. if you see this as another political ad, it's a little bit harder to. and the ads that are actually stronger, superior, better produced are the ones to break through. there is this sense of diminishing returns if you're spending all these 500, 600

million dollars of ads will another $100 million, $200 million be able to move the needle. >> he spent time in the debate prep. the last two weeks he's been doing a lot of debate prep. do you run the risk of studying too much for the exam? >> yeah, a little bit. and that exam is actually perfect. if you are studying for the midterm and you tell people i have spent 50 hours studying for this thing, you better get an a plus. if you get a b plus against the person who said i only studied five hours for this test, all of a sudden what mitt romney is doing is recollect r raising the expectations. he knows the first on economic policy is his chance really to change the contours, trajectory of this race. all of a sudden if he increases the expectations on his front where basically he has to hit a home run or nothing, if he hits a double and you make the argument that nothing ends up changing, that's really tough for him. >> mark murray, always a

pleasure. do appreciate your insight. come and join us on set every weekend. >> i will. >> you'll see a lot from me in washington, d.c. how about that. >> there we go. appreciate your time. thanks again, buddy. >> digging deeper into some of the new polling we are seeing today. before the conventions mitt romney appeared to be closing the gap for the president on the issue of medicare. getting within just one point in a "new york times"/cbs poll. president obama has opened up a 12-point lead. 52% to 40% when it comes to talking about medicare. good sunday afternoon to you. good to see. >> you great to be with you, craig. thanks for having me. >> this issue of medicare. republicans have been talking about turning the table on this issue. it looks like that window might be closing. what happened? >> well, the important thing to

remember when it comes to medicare is that the only one who has taken from medicare is president obama in this election. $716 million he stole from medicare in order to fund obama care. once people are made aware of that and are reminded of that they will think twice about the president. he came in four years ago promising to create jobs and turn the economy around. where are the jobs? the economy will play a big factor come november. we have unemployment above 8% for more than 33 months. $16 trillion deficit. and things are not getting better. and that's the kind of factor that will make a big difference. >> what you said and we should note that $700 billion figure, taking it out of medicare that's been disputed by a number of fact checkers. everything you just said, all those talking points are the same talking points that voters, independent voters especially in

swing states have been hearing ad nauseam several months now and they don't appear to be moving the needle a great deal. why is that? >> the nonpartisan congressional office backed up that figure. but in terms of the poll numbers, what we're going to see as it gets closer to it, we're seeing poll after poll shows enthusiasm for president obama is much less than romney. and that's going to be a big factor. a lot of folks will say, sure, i support president obama. when it gets down to it he doesn't have the enthusiasm, number one. also as the economy continues to look poor for people and people realize they're not better off than they were four years ago they're going to look for someone they trust to turn things around. with the romney/ryan plan for the middleclass which includes being a champion for small business owners, including energy independence, skills for america, deficit reduction, these will turn things around, make the economy better and help create jobs, and that's what

people want. >> the economy was supposed to be mitt romney's strength. these polls all taken in the last 10 days. obama up by six points "new york times". "washington post" up by two points. cnn, up by one point. tied in fox news poll. these are all questions related to the economy. how worried at this point should the romney campaign be that they, again, not able to move the needle on the question of the economy? >> well, they are doing just that. and you're smart in the top of the show to look at the key battleground states. that's where the numbers really make a big difference. the romney camp has closed the camp. they're doing better than obama in some states. they're going to target their message to those key battle ground states and remind people things are not better off. we're not better off economically. we have learned in terms of foreign policy that we need someone that will get in and turn the economy around and help create jobs.

they don't have the confidence that president obama will do anything different. if it hasn't worked for the past four years, it makes no sense whatsoever to double down and do it for more years. things are better off. where are the jobs? we need to see them. >> before i let you go, you were press secretary for rick santorum. something he said at the values voters this weekend getting a lot of attention. i want to talk about it on the other side. take a listen. >> we will never have the media on our side. ever. in this country. we will never have the elite smart people on our side. because they believe they should have the power to tell you what to do. >> now, the media is used to getting beat up by rick santorum. but the smart people won't be on his side? would you like to attempt to clarify what he meant by there. >> certainly. i was at the speech yesterday in washington. that was a great speech. that was one part of an overall

message. what he was referring to is certainly the often times we have members of the media who will regurgitate the obama talking points. we don't need larger government. we need to put the powerback in the people. one great point he made yesterday without families and without churches we have no conservative movement. and he stressed to the people yesterday the importance of families and churches gathering together and conservatives rallying together. >> there are smart people in churches. >> well, certainly. the point he was trying to make is the liberal media oftentimes will take the message point from the obama administration and try to make that. that was one point of a very long speech that was good. and he was speaking to conservatives. >> consider the audience. >> and important values first, which was the message of the day. >> all right. alice stewart, thank you so much for your time. former press secretary for the

santorum campaign. we appreciate you carving out some time for us. >> thanks, craig. great to be here. chicago teachers are expected to vote on whether they will return to class tomorrow. we're going to look at what the fight in the windy city means for big labor and the democratic party. >> and i think was a severe miscalculation. >> that statement by governor romney dominated the headlines for days. but did it change the course of the campaign? we're talking about that and a little bit later snl's take on dirty harry and the empty chair. plus, the hollywood tough guy's latest take on the speech from tampa. this is msnbc. king people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning.

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developing now in chicago.

in less than 6 on minutes the powerful chicago teachers union is expected to vote on whether to bd the weeklong strike in the windy city. a new contract includes built-in raises, evaluation standards and much less focus on job scores and more job protection. live in chicago. i understand a few hours ago the union was having trouble getting teachers on board with the proposal. what do you hear? >> we are hearing the same thing, craig. there's some talk that some were concerned this is being rushed a little bit too much. and the fact also that rosh hashanah begins at sundown and many jewish members are part of the delegate group that is voting in terms of what larger group would proceed. this is too important for everyone involved. so there is talk there is some contention. but beyond that people are saying they hope that there will be some sort of agreement. this group could vote to suspend

the strike and say that the negotiations would continue. that would allow kids to go back to school on monday. it is really up to the air at this moment. they thought they had the details of the framework of a contract worked out. it seemed like it got iffy with the union president saying it's not a contract until it's end. >> it's 2:15 there in chicago. what are the chances at this point of students actually being back in class tomorrow morning? >> it is anybody's guess. everybody wants it to happen. parents would have been scrambling with contingency plans for a week. they are in strong support of the teachers. but no one knows how long that support would continue if they have to go into this week as well. >> this developing story from chicago. we are going to check in with you as a bit as those discussions get under way. thank you so much. whether the strike is called off

an hour or in a week. it is clear at this point some political damage has already been done. the union facing off with the hand that's always fed them. democrats in leadership. joining me now in washington, d.c., "washington post" political reporter. >> so you have 30,000 teachers on strike. former chief of staff and mayor rahm emanuel. how damaging is this? potentially by extension of the president. >> i am one of those reporters who doesn't believe it's all that damaging to president obama. i know linkages to rahm emanuel, former chief of staff. the problem here is that unions and this administration have been squabbling since before he was president. he spoke before a teachers union

was booed linking teacher pay to standardized tests. i don't think if you look at somebody in peoria, ill they're going to make a decision based on this fight. certainly if you look sat somebody in philadelphia, pennsylvania, i don't think they'll make any sort of decision in notify based on this fight. i do think, though, you do have a withering of this traditional bond between unions and between democrats that's been going on for a while now with the rollback of so many manufacturing jobs. but i also think if you look at the white house record on education, $100 billion in stimulus money went to keeping teachers on jobs across the country. and so i think in some way it's a mixed record. i don't think ultimately teachers will look at this and say they want to go with mitt romney because of what happened in chicago. >> but it's interesting because you raise an interesting point there about the transformation of the relationship between

labor and the democrats san jose. for instance, we saw it there. the rollback of pensions there by a democrat. we have seen the same thing wts mayor of san antonio to a certain extent. do you think we are seeing a changing of the relationship between these powerful unions and the democratic party. >> i do think that's what we're seeing. if you look back to 2010, they put $160 million into getting democrats elected. obviously that didn't work out so well. republicans were obviously able to take over the house. and you did see in the wake of the wisconsin decision holding back support for unions putting money into these candidates. and they face defeat there. looks like that might be up in the air with some of the actions going on now. i do think there is a changing of the guard in terms of the privacy of labor unions. what unions were to do is run these very effective get out the

vote strategies. important swing states. and that might be a problem going forward. >> yes thank you so much. we will see you again a little bit later this hour. don't go too far. >> all righty. has the president seen a bump in polls following the convention in charlotte? we'll take a close look at the numbers there right after this. also the duke and duchess of cambridge trying to keep the topless photos of kate under wraps. they are taking legal action. details on that straight ahead. ...what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ...nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

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and 56% to 35% nonmarried voters. recapping some of the sunday sound now. netanyahu sounded the alarm on "meet the press" and cnn state of the union making very clear by israel wants a red line drawn. >> i think as they get closer and closer and closer to the achievement of weapons grade material, very close. they're six months away from being 90% of having rich uranium you have to place that red line before them now before it's too late. >> meanwhile, republican former mayor rudy giuliani said he wants mitt romney to step into this issue. >> i believe mitt romney would set a red line. >> why doesn't he do that now. >> he might very well do it over the course of the debates.

then you would accuse him of interfering in policy. >> we will bring you more later in the show. many canning up, the movement that went around the world, started one year ago today. we'll flash back to the beginning of occupy. coming up, the play of the week and the moment when the race for president may have flipped on its head. we'll have that next. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science

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the bomb outside a downtown nightclub. and lawyers for england's prince william and kate middle ton will be in a paris courtroom tomorrow. they are trying to stop further publication of topless photos of the duchess of cambridge. an italian magazine said it plans to publish more picks of kate middle ton tomorrow. political play of the week we think it's mitt romney's early criticism of the handling of the attacks on our consulate in libya and our embassy in cairo. romney issued that tuesday night. wednesday, he didn't back down in his criticism of the obama administration. >> they clearly sent mixed messages to the world and the statement that came from the administration and the embassy is the administration. the statement that came from the administration was a statement which is akin to apology and i think was a severe miscalculati miscalculation. >> democrats, even republicans

criticized romney for speaking out while the crisis was still unfolding. romney was ready to do that in a speech today in pueblo, colorado. we turn to our political war room. our chance to strategyize. we were talking about how the attacks have backfired. what have we learned about the candidate's political instincts? joining me with more on the challenge democratic strategist former national press secretary for the the democratic congressional campaign committee and robert trainem, adviser to the bush/cheney campaign. and long-time aide to rick santorum. the second former rick santorum we have had in the last 20 minutes. robert, let me start with you.

with the anti u.s. protests much of the focus is on foreign policy. many said he was tone deaf in the way he responded in the attacks. how hard will it be moving forward for governor romney to demonstrate he's moving forward. >> there are a lot of gray areas. a lot of nuances there. governor romney stepped out on a limb if you will and the limb broke. most american voters do not make their decision based on foreign policy. they need to make sure and they want to make sure that the presidential candidate has an understanding of the foreign policy. but at the end of the day this is still about the economy. he did not look very presidential. we'll see over the next couple days how he continues to handle this situation. but also to remember the president did not handle the situation very well as well because he said one thing in terms of egypt but another in terms of whether or not they were allies or not. of course former president jimmy

carter said, wait a minute, mr. president, meaning president obama, egypt is in fact, the our al lie not necessarily a foe. >> what did democrats learn about governor romney this week? >> well, i think they learned he's a little bit desperate right now. and i think that's why he gave a knee-jerk reaction that didn't have all the facts straight. and he's clearly being driven to talk a hawkish approach. the problem with governor romney's initial response it was totally wrong. he didn't have the facts straight. this was an opportunity for him to step back, give a measured statement, much like a lot of other republicans and show that he's above political partisanship in a situation that's so serious as what happened in benghazi and cairo. he dropped the ball here. he had an opportunity to show that he could be a statesman and he failed in.

>> robert, some republican congressional candidates seem to be softening the patterson tone. they are talking about bipartisanship as they head towards elections many believe republican lawmakers are responsible for the grid lock in congress. 44% of those who responded in a "new york times"/cbs news poll said that the republicans are at fault for the difficulties in getting legislation through. republican candidates hearing these frustrations are they adjusting their strategy? >> it appears that way, craig. look, at the end of the day you have to stand your ground and stand up for what you believe in. a lot of republicans have been saying in terms of the out of control spending and so forth. but they're also there to do a job and clearly work with democrats as well. but that's a double-edged sword, right? democrats need to work with republicans as well. it's like the firing squad. everyone is to blame.

we're living paycheck to paycheck if we even have a paycheck. we want you to figure this out. so figure it out. >> doug, it's always striking to me any time you poll congress they're always at historic lows. i think now it's 11%. when you ask folks about their individual congressman they always poll considerably higher. collectively we hate them all. but my guy, he's okay. how is that the case? >> well, that's actually not the case so much right now. that's why republicans are in a tough race to control the majority. and to robert's point, you know, the word "compromise" was a four-letter word inside the republican conference. they didn't want to compromise on anything. i think that's why you saw the government was taken to a brink of shutdown. why we almost defaulted on our debt obligations. that wasn't something that democrats resisted. that was something that

republicans resisted. >> really quickly in the "new york times" on the increased reliance on big donors. nearly half the $200 million in the democratic party machine have come from the people who gather donations from friends and business associates. the president often praised his small donors especially. when it change among the democratic base? >> no, absolutely not. look, they've built the biggest grassroots campaign in history. over $3 million individuals contributed in august. 1.1 million in august. 97% of his contributions from folks who gave $250 less. and so, look, these major fund-raisers are certainly important to presidential campaign, much like, you know, mitt romney has them. i would point out, though, the reason why we know the names of these folks is because the obama campaign disclosed them.

and his taxes and accounts in the cayman islands and swiss bank accounts. >> you brought up the taxes. robert, before i let you go, this is something that a lot of folks aren't talking about right now. in the next week or two or three weeks we are still supposed to be getting mitt romney's 2011 taxes. what do you think that's going to do to the campaign? >> i don't know. i think it depends what's in them. governor romney said he paid every single dime he's supposed to pay. nobody wants to pay more taxes. whether or not he's keeping stuff secret, i don't know the answer to that. we'll see exactly what's in those tax returns and we'll see if anything that was done that may be a little bit shady or not. probably there's nothing there and this is much ado about nothing. >> craig, he's asked for 10 years. he asked paul ryan for 10 years of tax returns and he's only turned over two years.

why is -- >> john mccain asked for 10 years that governor romney did turn over back in 2008 and john mccain was on record as saying just to be fair there was nothing in there to be egregious. >> why is it okay for mr. mccain to see 10 years and romney only two years? >> we'll have to leave it there. we'll pick it up later. have a great sunday, guys. >> thanks, craig. go, redskins! >> not just beer, not just brats, not just democrats in the badgers state. in case you didn't know. the home of paul ryan. no guarantee, though, mr. ryan can deliver wisconsin to the gop this year. we'll talk about that. and politics and amy poehler. which senators will you see on her hit comedy coming up and which politician can't say enough about the former snl star? ♪

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there is a campaign trail mix this afternoon. your fix of campaign trail mix. john mccain, olympia snowe, barbara boxer getting time on the small screen. they all have cameos in a season remere of "parks and recreation." mccain said he is a big contain of amy poehler. >> it's one of my favorite shows. it's very popular. i'm a fan. it's hilarious. the whole schtick about an election and being elected now coming to washington. >> clint eastwood giving his first tv interview since the empty chair performance at the rnc. >> one advantage of being my age is what can they do to you? have fun and do what you think. and you can say what you think.

you don't have to edit yourself. >> there was certainly no editing there. eastwood's speech was spoofed last night on snl's season premier. >> trust us, it was funny despite the audio problems. the boss, bruce springsteen performing in d.c. this weekend with members of congress on both sides of the aisle. held fund-raisers in the stadium's luxury suites, we're told. protesters will converge at the new york stock exchange for occupy wall street anniversary. police arrested a dozen protesters last night after 300

gathered to watch towards zhu zhu swraou catty park. within weeks cries of we are the 99% were being heard in cities around this country and around the world. >> two weeks and counting. several hundred faithful protesters continue to camp out near wall street. their numbers grow each day, fueled by the power of social media. a few scuffles with nypd and discontent over distrust of government and corporations. >> still to come, we are learning more details on that attack in a nato base this weekend. we will go to kabul for a live report. also, what makes this election cycle especially cheesy? a battleground breakdown next. ad to compete on the global stage. what we need are people

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what you may have missed on the campaign trail this weekend. republican vice presidential nominee paul ryan was campaigning in sunny florida yesterday. ryan alluded to this week's violence in the middle east as he attacked the president on spending cuts. we just have to . we can't keep spending money we don't have. it's getting out of control. and the worst about all of this is the only net spending cuts the president seems eager to engage is to gut national security. it's the primary responsibility of the federal government, and it's the one he wants to throw overboard first when it comes to taking the pencil out on the budget. look, we turn on the tv and see what's going on. if there's one thing that this reminds me, it is that peace through strength works. >> that was paul ryan yesterday in florida. now to a new development on the

trail that could have some big implications. this weekend president obama added a new state to his campaign schedule, there it is. wisconsin. he will be going to milwaukee saturday. there hasn't been much recent polling from the badger state, but the move could be an indication that the obama campaign believes that the race is tightening there. it's a state that the president won by 14 points back in 2008. with me now, john nichols, national correspondent for the nation. and our reporter from ""the washington post."" you were on the ground there in wisconsin. what are you seeing, what are you hearing? >> i think wisconsin has returned to its normal pattern. the thing to understand is that since 1988 wisconsin has been a battleground state. the real anomaly was 2008,

barack obama did incredibly well in wisconsin. ran way ahead of pattern. in fact, ran better than any democrat really since lyndon johnson in 1964. he won't do that well, but the important thing to remember is that in this battleground state, history and the patterns that i'm looking at right now would suggest that when all is said and done, obama will probably, as every democrat since 1988 has done, narrowly win the state. >> will probably win it, but by not a margin as large. >> and that's why he's got to come in. one of the things about wisconsin is that although it's a smaller state, it's a big, big, physically big state. but there is an expectation that candidates hit the ground. paul ryan was in the state the other day. joe biden was in the state the other day. it's not much of a surprise that barack obama is coming. >> they will reward retail politics. how much of this has to do with wisconsin congressman paul

ryan's presence on the ticket? >> well, it has everything, i think, to do with his presence on the ticket. you see him obviously running ads there for his congressional seat. of course, you saw biden do the same thing when he was running as vice president and having that seat in delaware. the democrats say this is a state within the margin of error. they look at other states like ohio and florida and see those states have gone beyond the margin of error in those polls. that's obviously why they're sending in president obama. they may send in the big dog, former president bill clinton, as well. if he can expand the map and be competitive in wisconsin, that means that he might not have to win virginia. if he picks up one of those states, new hampshire, one of those states out west, he may be able to expand the map. >> john, the issue driving the

election, of course, the economy. the national unemployment rate right now, the reported rate, 8.1%. we know it's all actually considerably higher than that. in wisconsin, it's 7.3%. wouldn't conventional wisdom read that as a good thing for the obama campaign? >> yes, and i think it is one of the reasons why obama actually remains in pretty good shape. one of the things to understand about wisconsin is that unemployment is concentrated in some key areas. bizarrely enough, a lot of it's in paul ryan's district. also, there is significant unemployment in milwaukee. so while the state overall has a low average, it's got some real pockets of problems. obama has got to address that. he's also going to have to do something else in wisconsin that he hasn't done as much of, although he did a little in iowa recently. that is talk about farm and rural policy. in these states in the upper midwest, there are a lot of

democratic potential voters in rural areas. they have to be addressed. >> let's take a look at the money being spent there in wisconsin right now. the obama campaign is actually outspending the romney campaign. there's the figure right there. $668,000 to $370,000. when you throw in all that super pac money, here's the real story. almost $8 million by the romney campaign versus just shy of $4 million by the obama campaign. it looks like all that money is having quite the impact, no? >> that's right. i think it is having an back. it seems to me that there were a couple states they could have put in play. one of which was wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania. seems like they've seeded the ground in those two big, big states. wisconsin seems like it's still in play. paul ryan obviously helps with that. the hometown boy there. we'll just have to see how it this plays out. >> you just raised a very interesting point. do you see, perhaps, wisconsin

in play now because the romney campaign looked at the polling in pennsylvania, looked at the polling in ohio, and as you've said, we can't win there, we may have a shot here. is that what you think is happening? >> in some ways, i think that is happening. surprising to me that two months out from a campaign that the romney campaign isn't playing in michigan. this is a state where he was born. not playing in pennsylvania. i think it has to do with the auto bailout and him not being able to explain his position there. i think they have room to run in wisconsin. it's because paul ryan does have a following there. of course, i said before he's running those ads there. i don't think that's really hedging his bets at all in thinking he would win the vice presidency. i think they have a real shot at wisconsin. in that way, they improve their chances to get to 270. >> john, nia-malika, thank you.

we'll see you again next hour. tensions between the president and israel's prime minister have been center stage in recent weeks. today you'll be surprise wrd a former leader of the dnc places the blame for that tension. there's been a development on the story within the past hour. also, 350,000 students, will they be back in class tomorrow morning? how chicago's public school teachers vote in just a few moments from now will decide exactly that. we'll update you on the teacher strike in the windy city. you're watching msnbc. m not a v. look at these teeth! they're made for meat! [ cat 2 ] do i look like i'm stalking plants? [ male announcer ] most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten but iams never adds gluten. iams adds 50% more animal protein, [ cat 3 ] look at this body! under this shiny coat is a lean, mean purring machine [ cat 4 ] i am too! hahahaha! [ male announcer ] iams. with 50% more animal protein. [ cat 5 ] yum! [ cat 1 ] i'm an iams cat.

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